The Exchange Students
by DesolateBeauty
Summary: Hogwarts particpates in a foregin exchange student program...6th year
1. Surprise!

_**Disclaimer:**_ _**I do not know anything expect the exchange students…sadly enough I do not even own myself.**_

Harry hated spending the summer with the Dursley's and dreaded the end of the school year. This summer however he was lucky enough to get away from the Dursley's before school started. He had almost laughed at look on his Aunt Petunia's face when she opened the front door to find Albus Dumbledore wearing a midnight blue cloak. Harry himself was quite shocked he didn't expect anyone from the order, especially Dumbledore, to show up at his front door.

As it turned out Sirius had left everything he owned to Harry including Grimmauld Place and the order needed his permission to continue using it as headquarters, which he consented to of course. Then Dumbledore told Harry the most wonderful news he had ever heard in his life. He could go live at Grimmuald Place seeing as how he was now master of it. That was how Harry had found himself spending the summer not with the Dursley's but with Ron and Hermione and The Order of the Phoenix.

Mrs. Weasley had given Ron permission to stay all summer with Harry instead of just coming for order meetings and Hermione had joined them closer to the start of the school year. It had been a good summer despite Harry missing Sirius, Mrs. Black randomly yelling about mudblood filth, and Kreacher being rather nasty. Now it was the last day of the summer holidays and the order was having a meeting.

The cause of this meeting happened to be Draco Malfoy who had spent all summer living with Tonks and was now a member of the order. Harry wasn't happy about this turn of events, not happy at all.

"Draco gave up his home, his family, and everything he knows" Tonks explained "He didn't want to work for the Dark Lord and when he told his parents they disowned him and threw him out."

"That doesn't mean he has to join the order" Harry shouted.

"Oh, like I really want to be constantly saving your ass Potter" spat back Draco.

"Both of you knock it off now!" all heads turned towards where Snape sat at the table "Draco has joined us, Dumbledore believes he is sincere about wanting to help the order. So I suggest you two stop fighting."

Harry glared at Snape muttered a "whatever" and left the room. "Well I guess that settles that." said Lupin. Draco stomped out of the room muttering "That's the last damn time I try and help St. Potter".

"I think that went well don't you?" Lupin asked turning to look at Tonks. Who replied "Well they are both still alive so I suppose so. I guess this meeting is over, I should go find Draco."

She started to get up but Hermione stopped her. "I'll go find Malfoy and Ron will go find Harry."

"I don't want you anywhere near that Slimy git Hermione" Ron protested.

"Well then," Hermione smiled "I'll go find Harry and you can go find Malfoy." Ron rose from his seat and walked out the door calling "Oi! Harry where did you go? Harry?" Hermione laughed as she walked out of the room and tried to think of where Malfoy might be. She decided that Malfoy had probably gone into the kitchen seeing as how it wasn't very far for the room in which they held the meetings.

She opened the door and saw him sitting at the kitchen table. "Mal-Draco?" Draco turned and looked at her. "What do you want Granger? Come to rub it in my face that my father disowned me?" Hermione was shocked that he thought she had tracked him down just to be spiteful.

"No I came to see if you were alright. I mean Harry wasn't very welcoming or grateful that you joined the order." Draco sighed, stood up and walked over to where Hermione was standing. "Look, Granger thanks for the concern but I am fine. I knew that no one was going to welcome me with open arms and want to be friends or anything like that. I knew what I was getting myself into. I should go find Tonks so we can go home." He walked to the door and was about to walk out it when he turned around. "I am sorry for calling you a mudblood and for saying all those mean and terrible things about you and your parents, Granger."

Hermione watched him leave the kitchen and thought to herself "Wow! Spending a summer with Tonks really has changed him." she walked upstairs to Harry and Ron's room where the boys were talking. Well not talking so much as Draco bashing.

"Just because he says he has changed we are just supposed to welcome him with open arms?" –Harry

"This is Snape all over again!" -Ron

"What are they thinking? Have they gone mental?" –Harry

"Malfoy is pure evil! Everyone knows that!" -Ron

"Would you two just shut up? Ronald! When I told you to find Harry and talk to him this is not what I meant! Malfoy has decided to leave his whole life behind and help us! The very least you two could do is be civil!" Hermione yelled at them.

"Sorry Hermione but I can't do that. I just don't trust him and I can't forget what he has done the past five years and I can't believe you can." Harry said. "It's not that hard to be civil to him he doesn't make it difficult or anything. Just try and be civil and maybe you will forgive him and trust him in time." Hermione reasoned.

"I doubt it." Harry said with a laugh.

"Yea, the day we trust Malfoy will be the day that pigs fly." added Ron.

"You know Ronald, I know a spell that will give a pig wings and if you paid attention in school you would too!" Hermione replied.

"It's an expression Hermione! Please don't give a pig wings just so I'll be nice to Malfoy." Ron argued.

Hermione knew she was fighting a losing battle so she sighed and said "Let's get to bed we have a train to catch in the morning." Having said that she left the room and walked down the hall towards her room.


	2. Making friends

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except The exchange students…so ha! lol**

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and George were extremely relieved when the Hogwarts Express finally left the train station. It had been a very hectic morning. Trying to get everyone to King's Cross on time and with all their school things was always chaotic. Harry had been quite shocked to find out that George was going to be returning to Hogwarts. Mrs. Weasley had been trying all summer to guilt trip the twins into returning to school. At the time everyone thought she was fighting a losing battle. Harry didn't see why one of them would, they had opened their joke shop in Diagon Alley and they were already doing quite well. Ron apparently was just as clueless as Harry about George's return to school and his reasoning.

"George, why are you going back to school?" Ron asked as they looked for an empty compartment. "Well, first off cause it gets mum off my back" George chuckled "Second off unlike Fred I actually wanted to go back to school." Harry, Ron and Hermione stopped walking and looked at George with such shocked looks that George and Ginny burst out in laughter. "What? George can't want an education?" Ginny asked when she had stopped laughing.

"No! No! That's quite all right. I guess we never thought of George as the type to want to go to school. However I am very proud of you!" Hermione explained. "Thanks. Anyway lets hurry up before there aren't any empty compartments left." George said. They continued to look but they couldn't find any empty compartments. Finally they came to the last one. Ginny opened it to find it empty, except for Draco Malfoy. He looked up, a look of hope on his face. Until he saw who was there, he looked disappointed. "What's the matter Malfoy?" Ron sneered, "Hoping we were your Death eater friends?"

"Ronald!" Hermione yelled at him. No one was paying attention to her however because Draco was staring at him like he had just grown two heads "Weasley, you don't seriously think I have any friends left do you?" Ron stared blankly at Draco " You did, didn't you? I hate to break it to you Weasley but when you leave Voldermort you leave without friends and family." Draco looked so crestfallen at his own words that no one said anything. They stood there staring at him for what seemed liked hours.

"Do you mind if we join you? Everywhere else is full." Harry said. Everyone turned to look at Harry opened mouthed. "Yea and we will be civil and everything!" now all eyes turned to George. "Hell, I'll be your friend as long as you don't act like a prat." This time it was Ginny who spoke. "We all will Draco." Hermione affirmed. Ron watched as everyone agreed with Hermione's statement. Malfoy looked at him "What about you Weasley?" Ron thought for a moment and said, "I guess but I still don't trust you."

"Fair enough" Draco said, "you guys coming in or are you going to stand out there the rest of the ride?" They all walked in the compartment and took their seats and at first it was a little awkward. After awhile the compartment door slid open again. This time when Draco looked up he saw the people he had been worried about running into. Standing there looking smug was Pansy Parkinson and behind her stood Crabbe and Goyle.

"I heard you were on the train but I had to see if it was true. None of us thought you were going to show up in public, thought you would be too ashamed." Pansy said looking at Draco. "Pansy…Crabbe…Goyle" Draco nodded to each of them. "I see you have made some new friends." Pansy said as she looked around the compartment. Before anyone else could remark Ron said, "So what if he has?".

Pansy smiled evilly at Ron "The Dark Lord will be very interested in this news." Ron glared at Pansy and opened his mouth to reply. However Draco beat him to it "Quite frankly I don't care what does or does not interest Voldermort. He can go Avada Kedavra himself for all I care.". Everyone looked shocked, everyone that is expect for Harry who smiled and said "Now why didn't I think to tell him that?".

Draco laughed and Ron got up and walked to the Slytherins "Get lost and leave Malfoy alone.". George walked up behind Ron "Mess with him and you mess with us. And I assure you that you don't want to do that." he smiled mischievously. "Fine but this isn't over. Crabbe…Goyle!" Pansy walked away followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Ron closed the door while George sat back down. Draco mumbled a "thank you" to everyone while Ron returned to his seat.

After that everything seemed less awkward. They all talked and laughed amongst themselves having a good time the rest of the ride. None of them suspecting what awaited them at Hogwarts that year.


	3. Marie,Pete,Lily and Midge

_**Disclaimer:**__**I do not own anything except the exchange students.**_

_**JESSY AND SARAH ROCK**_

Meanwhile at Hogwarts...

Marie looked at the other eight kids in the room, all appeared to be just regular teenagers. "Ugh...why am I here again?" she asked, turning to her brother. Staring at them, one would never guess they were related. Pete was six foot tall and skinny, with shaggy, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Marie, however, was five foot and three inches tall with a very curvy body. Her violet eyes and waist-length, curly, dark brown hair with white streaks in front were what made her appear so different from her brother.

"Because I asked you to _and_ because I'm so cute you couldn't say no."

Marie laughed, "More like Dad said I had to. Apparently, you're too young to attend a school half way across the world by yourself."

Pete shrugged and Marie turned back to look around the room to find a girl standing face-to-face in front of her, an idiotic smile plastered across the girl's face.

"Hi! My name is Lauren. Isn't this just so exciting?" The girl, now known as Lauren, exclaimed. She appeared to be around the same height as Marie with blue eyes but her bob styled brown hair was not flattering and was definitely didn't distract from her fat waist. An instantaneous dislike for the girl's ugly face and annoying voice welled up side Marie.

"Uh sure...whatever." Pete answered, distaste etched across his face.

"Are you two dating?" Lauren smiled, revealing a mouth full of crooked teeth.

"Hell no! He's my brother!" Marie shouted, making Pete laugh. Lauren opened her mouth again, likely to ask another question, but Marie quickly silenced her with her own words.

"What I want to know is why the shit are you talking to us?" An angry glare passed across Lauren's face and Pete, sensing the tension, started to back away. It was due to the growing threat of a full out cat-fight that none of them noticed the two girls walking towards them.

The first girl was very short and pixie-like with short, cherry pink hair that was spiked in the back and eyes the same shade of green as a cat's. The second girl was the same height as Marie and skinny. Staring out from beyond her dark-green, layered hair that fell to the middle of her back were her apple green eyes.

"Lauren's going to get her ass kicked! Hee Hee!" The girl with green hair giggled.

"Whatever! I am out of here." Lauren snarled before walking away, the green haired girl frowned.

"Awe! No ass-kicking..." she mumbled, the Pixie girl laughed at her companion's dismay.

"I'll go track her down and kick her ass if it will make you feel better." Marie offered, smiling politely.

"You can't! You will get sent home and so will I!" Pete argued.

"Fine," Marie rolled her eyes and turned towards the two girls "Sorry, ladies. No ass-kicking today."

"That's alright, mate. Lauren's a pansy anyway. I'm Midge, by the way, and this is Lily." The Pixie girl informed.

"I'm Pete and this is my sister, Marie." Pete replied, "You have an interesting accent. Are ya'll from Australia ?"

"Yep, we are. And you both have got to be Americans, right?" Midge asked.

"Gee I wonder what gave us away." Marie said sarcastically.

"I'm bored!" Lily proclaimed randomly releasing laughs from Pete, Marie and Midge.

Just then McGonagall walked in "Attention! _If I may have your attention please?"_ She ordered loudly enough for the mass of students to hear. "Now, you will all follow me to the Great Hall. I will direct you to your seats, where you are to stay until told otherwise." They all followed her out of the room and into the Great Hall.

She led them past four long tables towards another table in the back of the room. On either side of the table were two smaller, circular tables. The Professor instructed half of them to sit at the one at the left table and the other half to sit at the right. McGonagall took her exit as soon as the other teachers came in. Not long after the teachers were all seated, the rest of the students entered the Great Hall.

It was quite awhile before everyone finally found their own seat, but the moment they did McGonagall returned, leading led a large number of young looking children into the room, carrying an ancient, raggedy hat. "Well this should be interesting." Marie whispered to Midge, Pete, and Lily.

"What is she doing with that old hat?" Lily asked.

"No fucking clue" Midge replied.'

"I think we are about to find out." Pete replied. They watched with amusement as the hat sang a song about the houses and then the frightened and bewildered looking children put the hat on their head one-by-one to be placed into their respective houses. Once the hat shouted their House's name a plethora of cheers would erupt from said house's table and the young student would rush to join sit with them. When the separating was over, the Headmaster stood up to make an announcement.


	4. The Exchange Students

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the exchange students **_

Harry watched as Dumbledore stood to make an announcement "Wonder what this is about?" Harry whispered to Ron, who shrugged as Hermoine rolled her eyes.

"Did you two not notice the two extra tables up front?" she asked annoyed. The two boys both looked up to see two circular tables, on either side of the teacher's table. There were about five teenagers that none of them had seen before sitting at each table.

At that moment, Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to speak "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I know you are all ready to dig in to this wonderful feast, however, before we start I have a few announcements to make." He said "Firstly, I would like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Tonks." Tonks stood up from her place at the teacher's table, receiving a harmony of loud applause from the entire house due to the streaks of red, green, blue, and yellow in her hair.

"Did you know about this?" Ron asked, Harry, Ginny, George and even Hermoine shook their heads. They all turned towards Draco, who seemed just as bewildered as they were.

As the applause died down, Dumbledore began to speak again. "Now, for the most exciting news; Hogwarts will be participating in an exchange student program for the very first time, meaning that students from all over the world will be attending our school." Whispers quickly filled the Great Hall and everyone was gawking at the exchange students. "If this trial exchange goes well, then next year five students from every school around the world will have the chance to be an exchange student. Now, it is time to sort the exchange students into their Houses and then we can start the feast. I ask that you make your new peers feel welcome."

Harry could only watch as McGonagall called out names and each student rose from their seat to walk over to her and put the sorting hat on their heads. The first person that caught Harry's attention was the girl named Lily Becker. If it hadn't been for her head of green hair, he might not have noticed her.

"I bet Tonks will like her!" laughed Ginny. The girl was sorted into Slytherin and she sat down in between Draco and Blaise.

"Well, perhaps Draco will have someone to talk now?" Hermoine put in. The next student, Midge Creed, was just as eye-catching with her short stature and pink hair, took her turn with the hat.

"Wow...she is beautiful" George whispered, receiving laughs from everyone. When the hat placed her in Gryffindor, the pixie-like girl bounced over to the applauding table and sat next to Harry and directly in front of George.

"Hello I'm Hermoine Granger," Hermoine greeted their new peer. "This is Harry, Ron, Ginny and George." She indicated everyone as she said their names.

Midge smiled "I'm Midge, it's a pleasure to meet you all." She replied "So is this the badass House? I have a bet with my friend Lily, she thought she would be in the coolest House and I just have to prove her skinny ass wrong." Everyone laughed.

"Lily? You mean the girl with the green hair?" Harry asked, receiving a nod.

"Then you win babe," George said with a sly smile.

"Awesome!" Midge exclaimed. "I wonder where Marie and Pete are going to be sorted." As soon as she finished her sentence, McGonagall called Marie Lockwood, who had the longest hair Harry had ever seen, to be sorted.

"You know her?" He asked Midge.

"Actually," she replied "I just met her in the empty classroom we were waiting in, but she seems cool. Why do you ask? You want to meet her?"

"Uh...Sure?" Harry said hesitantly. Midge smirked and turned to watch her friend get sorted. When the hat decided to put Marie in Ravenclaw, Hermoine commented that Marie must be very smart to get into Ravenclaw, Midge seemed rather pleased at the notion. The next student to be called was Pete Lockwood; Harry looked up at the boy.

"Is that her brother?" Ron asked with slight surprise. Midge nodded taking Harry by surprise, the siblings looked nothing alike. When he ended up a Hufflepuff, Midge wasn't the only one that seemed disappointed, Ginny appeared to be slightly upset as well. Soon, there was only one girl left to be sorted. McGonagall called her name, Lauren Stewart.

Harry, along with most of the other students, was stunned when they saw the girl was dreadfully ugly and morbidly obese, even McGonagall seemed taken aback.

"Oh that poor stool, I don't think it can hold her weight!" Midge whispered, earning several snickers from the Gryffindor table. "Oh God, _please_ don't let that bitch be sorted here!" Harry laughed to himself and turned to find out if she would in fact be sorted into their House. To Midge's relief, Lauren was sorted into Hufflepuff. Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for Pete, who the fat girl decided to sit next to. Then, after another brief speech from Dumbledore and a loud clap of his hands, the feast began and Midge was then interrogated by her new friends. She didn't seem to mind, rather she seemed quite earnest to answer.

When the feast was over, she followed the Gryffindors to their common room where Hermoine, Ginny, and Midge went up the girl's stairs while Harry, Ron, and George went up the boy's stairs. Neville, Dean and Seamus welcomed them when they walked into their room and soon they were all talking about their summers and the new exchange student program. Harry was relieved to have time to himself to think after they all went to bed, thoughts were swimming through his mind about how so many different things had changed over a single summer.

"_This year should be very entertaining,"_ he thought before drifting off to sleep.


	5. First day back

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for the exchange students.**_

Draco awoke the next morning in a wonderful mood. He had figured the entire house of Slytherins would be completely against him, however, it turned out that only a small number of his fellow House members hated him. He had thought he would be shunned by his peers, but it was quite the opposite; those against him were being shunned by the rest of the Slytherins. It seemed that he would always be seen as the "Prince of Slytherin", despite his father having disowned him and his new found friendship with a few members of Gryffindor. He was rather shocked, his House had never been known for its loyalty to anyone but themselves.

Blaise even took it upon himself to become Draco's bodyguard of sorts, if anyone even attempted to cause problems with Draco they would have to go through Blaise first. And to top it all off, the gorgeous exchange student, Lily had sat next to him at the previous night's feast. Draco couldn't even care whether or not she was pureblood, the thought had never even crossed his mind. Something that had amazed Draco was the fact that she had every other man's attention, yet she chose to sit next to him. She spoke with no one else but Draco the entire time and all the way back to the common room. Draco was head over heels for her.

Hogsmeade trips were beginning the following weekend and he asked her to accompany him. When she agreed, he began to feel that his life was finally becoming what he had always wanted it to be: Honest, with real friends, being genuinely liked by his housemates for who he was and a date with a wonderful girl. And it was all possible because of his father.

Harry's morning turned out rather kind of boring in comparison, except that Ron was acting oddly and George was flirting shamelessly with Midge. George's flirting with Midge wasn't much of a deal, but Harry was beginning to worry about Ron. While they were at breakfast Lily ran over from the Slytherin table to speak with Midge, Harry took advantage of the distraction to have his own conversation with Ron.

"Ron what's the matter?" He queried "You've been acting weird all morning and don't try to lie to me. " Ron glanced around quickly, ensuring everyone else was distracted. It appeared that Ginny, George and Hermione had joined the conversation between Midge and Lily, so Ron felt safe enough to answer.

"I've be trying to work up the nerve to ask Hermione to be my girlfriend." He replied in a low voice. Harry was taken aback, he was aware of Ron's feelings for their friend but he hadn't thought Ron would ever do anything about it.

"Well it's about damn time!" He whispered back with a small laugh "What are you waiting for?" Ron glanced at Hermione

"You're right!" Ron turned toward Hermione "Hey, Hermione? Can I talk to you for a minute…alone?" Hermione looked up at Ron quizzically and nodded. As they were leaving the Great Hall, Harry heard his name being called.

"Harry! We're all going to meet at the Hog's Head this weekend, wanna join us?" Ginny asked him.

"Who are 'we'?" Harry asked.

"ME and my date, Draco Malfoy, who is extremely hot!" Lily announced "Hermione says you know him?"

Harry chuckled to himself as George spoke "And then myself and this lovely little doll." He smiled at Midge, making her giggle. "Ginny is coming along as well and Midge is going to ask Marie and Pete to come."

"Don't forget my boyfriend, Ron and myself." Everyone turned towards the voice to find Hermione and Ron, holding hands, each a dark shade of red.

"Congratulations, Ron." Harry smiled as George winked at his younger brother, the girls all clapped as Ron and Hermione sat back down. Lily then returned to her seat to have breakfast with Draco when he walked into the Great Hall, everyone laughed as she ran back to the Slytherin table. Draco waved at everyone.

"So, are you coming or what?" Midge asked Harry.

"Er…Sure, why not?" He answered. After while, once he thought no one was looking, he glanced over at the Ravenclaw table in search of Marie. Figuring he would see her at the Hog's Head that weekend, he wasn't too upset when he couldn't find her. "This is going to be a long week," he thought to himself.


	6. Trip to Hogsmeade

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the exchange students **_

_**a/n: Look it Chris!!! New chapter!!!!**_

Marie was waiting impatiently for Pete, Lily, and Draco to finish their breakfast. The Headmaster had told them all at dinner the night of their first day of classes that, "In order to encourage unity, not only amongst the houses, but also amongst the exchange and resident students, you may sit at whichever table you wish." Since the announcement, the students had been slowly moving to other tables. Marie continued to sit at the Ravenclaw table but, on that particular morning, Lily had grabbed her and Pete to more or less drag them to the Slytherin table.

Marie was beginning to regret not getting any sleep that morning. "You aren't going to eat?" Draco asked her.

"Not awake enough to eat," she replied groggily.

"She has trouble sleeping at night," Pete explained. "So, when morning rolls around she usually sleeps in and skips breakfast."

"Weeelllll, I LOVE TOAST!!!!" Lily yelled randomly, receiving laughs from the table. Marie was getting quite used to the fact that Lily sometimes yelled out whatever she was thinking.

"Ugh, Dad seriously needs to send me some Dr. Pepper." Marie muttered.

"Aren't you excited about today?" Lily asked "We get to go shopping and hang out with hot guys, the only thing missing is the beach!"

"Sorry, babe, I'm just not awake yet. But I promise that once I wake up, I'll be excited just for you." Marie tried to smile but failed miserably.

"If you weren't a vampire you wouldn't be so dead during the day," Pete said, receiving a smack upside the head from Marie.

"Who's a vampire?" Midge asked as she took the seat next to Marie, "I love vampires, they're very sexy!" George, who had been trying unsuccessfully to get her to be his girlfriend, sat next to her. Marie found his continuing strike-outs rather funny, he had yet to figure out that Midge was going to make him work for it. She wasn't the type of girl that one could snag easily.

Ginny sat on the other side of Pete, who blushed crimson. "Way to play it cool, little bro." Marie thought., Ron, and his girlfriend, Hermione, sat on the other side of the table next to Lily. And _**he **_was sitting next to Draco, Harry Potter, the boy with the loveliest green eyes she had ever seen.

"Marie is," Pete answered Midge. "I mean look how pale she is! I swear she has fangs with how nocturnal she is. She falls asleep so easily during the day and sleeps until the sun goes down. But she can't sleep for shit at night."

"I have done very extensive research on vampires for Defense Against the Dark Arts so, I would know a vampire if I saw one and Marie is certainly no vampire." Hermione informed.

"Mione, I'm sure he was only joking," Ron told her.

"No I'm not!" Pete gushed "She's a vampire disguised as a student and she has come to suck all of our blood! She is going to wipe out the entire student body _and_ the teachers so that she and her vampire friends can use Hogwarts as their castle! But that's not even the worst part; the worst part is that she isn't the only vampire in disguise here. Midge is the one who bit her and turned her, she's actually the vampire queen. And with those two working together we'll all be dead by next week." He added with a mischievous grin, receiving a loud yell of acknowledgement from Midge.

"Hell yeah!" She cried excitedly as she bounced up and down in her seat. Everyone sat in silence, flabbergasted at the random outburst. Most of them had yet to hear Pete say anything like that before. Only three of them didn't seem to be fazed. Midge, obviously unbothered by the outburst, began merrily singing a song of her own production, "I am the vampire queen, I am the vampire queen, I like to bite people and suck their blood!" while clapping.

Ginny, who was laughing quietly, and Marie, who just sat there blankly, were also included in the unbothered category. "Are you done now?" Marie asked calmly. Pete seemed to mull it over for a moment before nodding his head yes. Marie, swiftly and wordlessly, delivered a smart smack upside his head. The sound of the slap was so loud it reverberated all throughout The Great Hall, making all the students and teachers turn to see what was going on.

"Ow!" Pete howled, while rubbing his head gingerly, "She's officially awake now." After a few moments, everyone got over their shock and started to laugh.

"Who is ready to go?" Hermione asked, as she stood up from the table. As they all began to follow suit, Marie thought it was a little too chilly to be wearing a skirt that day. However, Midge didn't seem to mind the weather and wore a skirt that showed off her tattoo, a rose vine that wrapped around her right leg. And of course everyone had noticed and it was the first thing they began talking about once they were all sitting at a table in the Hog's head, drinks in hand.

"Your parents let you get a tattoo, _at_ _sixteen_?" Hermione asked disapprovingly.

"Oh, yeah. My mom is really cool." Midge replied "I also have lots of piercings but I wear the spacers during school. Today I put in the regular ones, in case you didn't notice." She stuck her tongue out to show the piercing. Marie finally noticed that, along with the tongue ring, Midge also two studs in each ear, her eyebrow pierced and snake bites.

"So you have snakebites, eyebrow, tongue and numerous holes in your ears…is that all?" Pete asked.

"Nope, my belly button, too!" Midge smiled.

"Hey, I have my tongue and belly button pierced too!" Lily added, sticking out her tongue and raising up her shirt to show her navel ring.

"Marie has her nose pierced," Pete chimed in. Everyone stared at Marie and she tapped her nose ring and smirked

"Pete has his lip pierced." Pete nodded his head and started playing with his lip ring.

"Wow, that's pretty cool!" Ginny said with a grin, but Hermione only looked at them all disapprovingly.

Noticing Hermione's mood, Ron changed the subject, which was going quite well until he referred to Marie and Pete as "Yankees."

"Excuse me?" Marie asked, as she cocked her eyebrow and glared at Ron.

"Uh-oh," Pete said.

"Er," Ron started nervously, fearing the pissed stare Marie was giving him. "Isn't that what you Americans are called?"

"Oh shit," Pete muttered.

"What?" Ron asked, glancing back and forth from Marie to Pete.

"_First_ _off,_" Marie started heatedly. "If you ever call me a Yankee again, I'll beat your ass. Second off, only people from the _northern_ part of the U.S. are Yankees. Those from the southern part are Rebels. And I am from the southern part. _As you can tell,_ we don't like being called Yankees and I doubt that Yankees like being called Rebels. So, watch what you say. I will let it slide this one time since you obviously didn't know, but be careful." Ron gulped and nodded his head and corrected his earlier sentence by replacing Yankee with Rebel.

After a few awkward moments, they all continued to talk. That is, until Lily decided it was time for them to leave and go shopping. She jumped up, grabbed Draco, and ran out the door. "I guess we aren't shopping together." Hermione commented.

"Well in that case..." Ginny smiled mischievously and got up from the table and left the Hog's Head, taking Pete with her. George and Midge followed them not long afterwards.

"Erm...Marie, stay with Harry?" Hermione asked while walking out the door with Ron trailing behind her.

"Looks like it's just you and me," Marie turned to Harry. "Where do you wanna go?" Harry just smiled and motioned for her to follow him out the door and down the street to the pet store.

"What are we doing here?" Marie asked with a perplexed stare, "I thought you had an owl?"

"I do, but you mentioned earlier, when we were talking about it, that you always wanted an animal. So I thought why not get one now?" Harry explained.

"Wow that was really sweet." Marie smiled said, "Ok, help me pick one out." They spent most of their time looking at all the animals, because Marie loved them all, but she finally decided on a black cat with green eyes that was rather heavy set. When it came time to pay for the cat, Harry insisted on using his own money to do so.

"Well…ok." Marie said grudgingly, after a bit of arguing. "But you have to help me name her because she's half yours now!" Marie smiled.

"Umm" he said sheepishly, while looking at the cat "How about Cleo? You know, as in short for Cleopatra?"

"I like it," Marie laughed. "What do you think?" she asked the cat, holding her so they were eye to eye. The cat winked at her and Marie took that as a yes. "Thank you, Harry, let's take her back to Hogwarts!"

Meanwhile, George had tried just about everything to get Midge to be his girlfriend, but to no avail. She wasn't like most girls and definitely more special than most, so it would take something extra special and romantic to get her to be his girlfriend. Something that proved he knew she was worth anything and everything. And he had an idea in mind. Part of the plan required him to continue obeying her every command, even if it was to jump through a flaming hoop. They spent all afternoon in the joke shop and had quite a wonderful time.

"Ok, now what do you want to do?" George asked as they left the joke shop. Midge smiled apologetically.

"Actually I need to get back to school, I need to feed my cat." She replied.

"You have a cat? You didn't mention him when we were talking about pets." George said raising his eyebrow.

"That's because Lily decided it was time to go before I could have a chance to talk about him. Lily has no patience." Midge laughed, "My cat's name is Vampire Kitty but I just call him Kitty. He's black and white and everyone says he looks like Hitler."

"How can a cat look like Hitler?" George asked, he tried to picture it but all he could imagine was a cat in Hitler's clothing.

"Come on, I'll show you!" Midge began running back to the castle with George running behind her.

Draco was having the best day of his life, he had decided while Lily was trying on some clothes that he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend...more or less. She really liked to shop and had bought a lot of new clothes that afternoon. And when they walked out of the clothing store he casually said, "Lily you should be my girlfriend."

"Be your girlfriend?" Lily smiled "Well, you are hot and I do like you a lot, so…yes. I'll be your girlfriend."

Draco took her hand and asked "Ok, so where else would my girlfriend like to go?" Lily smiled broadly and pointed to another clothing store.

Later that night at dinner they all decided to sit at the Slytherin table. Everyone had something to tell the others about what they did that afternoon. They were talking so much they didn't notice when Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Excuse me!" He started, receiving so little compliance from his students he finally had to bellow, "Your attention please!" The Great Hall suddenly quieted down with a slight jump from the students. "Thank you. Now, every year we have a Halloween feast. This year, however, we will be doing something different. We are having a costume ball, this includes all years. So, for those of you allowed to, on your next trip to Hogsmeade, you may want to invest in a costume. For you First and Second years, there will be a field trip to Hogsmeade a few weeks before the ball, you may choose a costume then. That is all." Dumbledore finished with the familiar twinkle in his eye. The entire Great Hall was filled with excitement and a cacophony of talk of the Halloween Costume Ball.


	7. Halloween Ball

_**Disclaimer: **__**I do not own anything except for the exchange students…the song is Iris by The Goo Dolls**_

Marie looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, "I can't believe I let Midge talk me into wearing this!"

Midge and George were going to the Halloween costume ball as Harley Quinn and The Joker, and when Marie had joined Midge for shopping, Midge had convinced Marie to go as Catwoman. Marie shook her head and walked downstairs to meet up with everyone outside the Great Hall, where the ball was being held.

"You look sexy!" Midge greeted, smiling broadly, as Marie walked towards the group of nearly all their friends.

"Thank you. Where are Lily and Harry?" Marie asked, glancing around at everyone's costumes. Ron and Hermione were dressed as Romeo and Juliet, Pete and Ginny (who had entered their own relationship a week before) were dressed as Cinderella and Prince Charming, while Draco was....a fighter pilot?

"No clue but I wish they would hurry up!" Draco grumbled, answering Marie's questioning stare. At that moment, two girls, each clad in Marie Antoinette gowns, wigs and lovely ball masks, walked by. Draco grinned and called out to one of them. "Hannah!"

The girls turned around and removed their masks, returning the grin. The shorter of the two (4-foot-eleven, to be exact, or so they would find out later) wore the classic, powder-white, 18th century wig that shined even brighter against her brown skin, her golden eyes glittered as they roamed over Draco, Marie and the others. The other girl was a bit taller, standing at about 5'4, her costume and wig were identical to her companion's, her skin, however, was quite fair, and her eyes were a bright green. Their eyes and skin tone was not the only thing different between the two girls, the taller girl also had many prominent and intriguing ear piercings, along with a nose ring and snakebites. Her entire face lit up as she smiled at Draco.

"How did you know it was me?" said the taller girl. Draco shrugged.

He turned to his friends, "Everyone, this is Hannah and this must be your sister-Jessy, I presume? Am I correct?"

Hannah nodded and received several aghast stares, she laughed and shook her head. Marie was shocked, for the two girls looked nothing alike. "Then again, Pete and I don't look anything alike either." she thought.

Jessy looked at everyone in confusion, "What's everyone looking at? We're half sisters, you dumbasses."

Marie and Midge laughed while Hannah smiled at them. "You must have been a Slytherin when you were in Hogwarts." Draco praised, grinning proudly at Jessy.

"Fuck yes! And before the rest of you ask another stupid question, _yes_. I've already graduated and I received special permission from Uncle Albus to be here."

When everyone gaped at the girls again, Ron had the answer. "They're his great-nieces." All eyes turned, in surprise and slight accusation, to Ron, whose ears went scarlet. "What? I can know stuff...okay, okay! Jessy is Charlie's girlfriend. That's how I know, alright? Charlie told me." He admitted. Everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone stopped staring at him and started to laugh. "Well, I'd originally called you over to see if you knew where Lily was." Draco explained to Hannah once the laughter had died down, Hannah immediately stopped smiling and stared at Draco darkly. Marie wondered if anyone else noticed the change in Hannah's expression, Draco certainly didn't seem to but Jessy most certainly did and didn't seem happy at all. Marie looked around the room for a distraction before Jessy could tell Draco where to shove it when she found, almost at once, the perfect one, which just so happened to be on the arm of Snape.

"Oh, my god! Is that woman actually on a date with Snape?"

When everyone turned to look at the woman, donned as a pirate wench, standing next to Snape, Marie winked at Hannah, who smiled at gratefully, grabbed Jessy and rushed away.

As soon as they were out of the way, Marie turned her attention back to the woman and Snape. Her costume was made of thick, brown leather, and even included an eye patch, her long hair hung in heavy brown curtains before changing into shockingly white tips, as though her hair was going gray, but from the bottom up. Snape leaned in close to his date as she whispered something into his ear, a thin, curling smile spread across his face.

"Is Snape smiling?" Lily's voice came from behind them. Everyone turned around to greet her to find her dressed as...as...as...Betty Paige?

"Uh ...what are you supposed to be?" Ron asked.

"Betty Paige...She was a 50's pin up girl and the inspiration of the Suicide Girls." Midge explained quickly before rounding on Lily, "You don't even know how to appreciate Betty Paige! What are you doing dressing as her?"

Lily just smiled, "Because I look hot in the outfit!" Midge rolled her eyes.

"Ok, now, explain how Betty Paige fits a fighter pilot?" Hermione inquired.

"It just does!" Lily expressed in a very childish tone.

"Come on, babe. Let's go into the Great Hall...we'll meet you all in there." Draco said, ushering Lily towards the Great Hall.

"Well tonight is going to be interesting to say the very least," Marie muttered, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Where the hell is Harry?" Pete asked, glancing around.

"I haven't the slightest…what costume is he wearing?" Ginny asked, looking at Ron, who shrugged.

"I know but I am not telling" George taunted in a sing-song voice. Marie turned her attention to the people milling about outside the Great Hall waiting for their friends. She had hoped to find Harry amongst the crowd, but had no luck. She did, however, find all the other exchange students.

There was Katelyn, a fifth year sorted into Gryffindor, dressed in her pajamas. Her shoulder length strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a bun, and her blue eyes were sparkling with laughter. Raymond, another fifth year who'd ended up in Ravenclaw, who was dressed as a Quidditch player, was the cause of her laughter. He ran a hand through his jet black hair, and winked one beautiful brown eye at Katelyn, who laughed even more. Marie looked over to where David, a seventh year in Hufflepuff, and Greg, another seventh year in Slytherin, were goofing off. Greg's shaggy black hair and brown eyes made his vampire (complete with hooded cape that would have made anyone else look silly, but he pulled it off quite well) costume look even more realistic, unlike David, who was dressed as a samurai with goggles. David was Asian so the samurai costume and goggles made sense -- just not together.

"At least he isn't wearing the beanie, too." Marie thought to herself as Josh, a sixth year Hufflepuff, tried to sneak up on a group of his friends. He was dressed in a ninja costume with a mask that covered everything but his bright blue eyes, everyone knew that under the mask was a head of dirty blonde hair and a face so pretty any girl would've killed to have it. Marie thought it seemed such a shame that a pretty face should be wasted on such a dumbass.

"I agree, mate!" Midge said to Marie, who turned back around to face Midge.

"Did I say that out loud?" Midge laughed and nodded her head. "Oops...my bad." everyone laughed.

"George! I am going to kill you! I can't believe you talked me into this!" Harry's voice came from behind Marie. Everyone turned around to face Harry. Marie forgot how to breathe for a minute, Harry was dressed as Batman, and, in Marie's professional opinion, he looked hot. Ron started laughing and Hermione had to smack him to make him shut up. Pete looked like he wanted to laugh, but knew better then to so much as smile. George just smiled considerately at Midge, who smiled back. Ginny looked shocked and Marie just couldn't stop staring at Harry.

"Sorry Harry! George, this is the best prank ever, it's too bad Fred isn't here to see it!" Ron said trying not to laugh.

"It's not a prank Ron. I figured that there is no point in having the villain but no super hero. Now stop laughing before I pull the best prank ever on you." George retorted smartly, shutting his brother up at once.

"I feel like a git!" Harry sighed.

"You look fine--right guys?" George glared at Ron threateningly.

"Oh yeah...yeah" Ron nodded.

"Really Harry don't listen to Ronald!" Hermione chimed in.

Ginny nodded at Harry and smiled while Pete managed to say, "Really dude, it looks fine. Don't worry about it." without laughing.

Then, Harry's green eyes turned to Marie with a questioning glance, "Marie?"

"Yes?" she asked in confusion.

"The costume? How does it look?" he asked slowly.

"Oh! Yeah...it looks great, really!" Marie assured him with a smile, and Harry returned the gesture. Neither Harry nor Marie noticed the wink George gave Midge, but everyone else did.

"Wow you guys look hot!" Lauren's voice came from the stairs behind them. Marie had to hold back her laughter when she saw Lauren's hooker costume and all her nasty fat was hanging out. Marie heard gagging noises coming from Midge and George's direction and had to fight off another wave of laughter. Lauren finished walking down the steps and positioned herself between Harry and George; that's when Marie noticed Hermione and Ginny had taken the opportunity to drag Ron and Pete into the Great Hall.

Lauren started to batted eyelashes at Harry and George, "I just love the Joker and Batman!"

Midge glared daggers and said, "Sorry babe but this Joker already has a Harley Quinn and you obviously couldn't fit your fat ass in the costume. Come on George!" Midge walked off with George in tow, Lauren shrugged and focused her attention on Harry, who looked as though he wanted to be anywhere but there. Lauren leeched herself onto him and Marie had the sudden urge to bash Lauren's face in. Josh, the sixth year Hufflepuff exchange student, walked up to them before Marie could rip Lauren to pieces.

"Hey baby! You look...sexy. Yeah, let's go with that! You ready to go party?" Lauren looked reluctantly at Harry as Josh pulled her away.

"Awkward..." Marie said and smiled at Harry, feeling relieved that Lauren was gone.

"Well looks like it's just you and me again." Harry said, smiling and gesturing for her to head towards the Great Hall.

"Just the way I like it." Marie thought as she smiled back and followed him to the party.

Midge was really enjoying herself. She loved to dance more than anything else, it was her passion. It was always really hard for Midge to find a date that would dance with her and have as much fun as she did at the dances. George was absolutely the single, most amazing date ever. He loved to dance and was having as much fun as she was. The DJ the school hired was amazing and the decorations, according to George, were the same as every year for Halloween. Lauren was dancing with Josh, and she hadn't hit on George since they'd entered the dance. Nor had she hit on Harry.

Midge and George had decided Harry and Marie would make a wonderful couple and had come up with a plan to pair the two up. The plan was going pretty well, they had been flirting all night and Harry was acting like he was Marie's date. The only problem was George hadn't been bugging Midge to be his girlfriend for the past two or three weeks. And she wanted to be his girlfriend, but didn't want to make it easy for him. He kept asking and asking until he asked her to the dance and when she'd agreed, he stopped asking her to be his girlfriend. What really worried her was that he had stopped asking, but his behavior hadn't changed any.

"Oh well, I don't know what is going on and I probably won't." She thought as she walked back to the table to sit down for a minute. When she got there she found Marie and Lily also resting.

"Hey, sexy lady, enjoying yourself?" Marie asked smiling at her.

"Hellz yeah," Midge replied as she sat down, "I just need a chance to relax and sit down for a moment. Where are Harry and Draco?"

Marie shrugged and looked at Lily, who replied, "Don't know, don't care! I am so bored, I want to leave right now!"

Marie ignored Lily and her bitching and asked, "Where's George?" Midge looked around, "I have no idea he was behind me a minute ago."

"That's what she said!" Jessy yelled as she and Hannah walked up to the table. "Orange!" she continued quickly.

"Green!" Hannah yelled.

"What the shit?" Marie voiced the confusion of everyone at the table.

"Quick! Say a color, one we didn't use!" Hannah said, while laughing.

"Purple!" Marie said at the same time Midge said "Red!"

About a half a second too late Lily yelled, "Green...shit...black!"

"Oh! You lost! Now you have to moan!" Jessy laughed.

"Every time someone says 'that's what she said' you have to say a color. No repeats and the last one to say a color has to moan!" Hannah explained.

Marie laughed and Midge said, "That's awesome!"

They all turned to Lily and waited for her to moan. "That game sounds gay! I am not doing it! And you two," She said pointing at Jessy and Hannah, "look stupid in those costumes! I am leaving!" Lily got up from the table and headed off in the direction of the doors, just as a sign saying "whore" in large black letters appeared on her back.

"Jessy!" Hannah exclaimed.

"What? I didn't do nuffink," Jessy said in a not-so-innocent voice. Just before Lily walked out of the doors, Draco ran up to her and started talking. Everyone watched, mildly interested, until she shrugged him off and left. With his shoulders sagging slightly, he joined everyone at the table and sat down next to Hannah.

"She ok?" Marie asked him.

"She says she's bored," Draco shrugged.

Suddenly, the music stopped and Harry came out of nowhere and sat down at the table smiling broadly at Midge. Before she could ask him what he was smiling about, George walked on stage and grabbed a microphone.

"I would like to dedicate this song to Midge. And to everyone else, I would like to apologize for my horrid singing voice." George smiled impishly at the audience and then turned his eyes to Midge as the music started. "And I'd give up forever to touch you, 'cause I know that you feel me, somehow. You're the closest to Heaven that I'll ever be, and I don't want to go home right now." Midge stared, utterly shocked.

George was singing a love song to her--and in front of the entire school. "And all I can taste is this moment and all I can breathe is your life, 'cause, sooner or later, it's over I just don't want to miss you tonight and I don't want the world to see me cause I don't think that they'd understand when everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am." The room was utterly quiet and Midge tore her eyes away from George to look around. The guys were staring at him, mouths agape and all the girls were gazing at him dreamily. Midge turned her eyes back to George. "And you can't fight the tears that aint coming, or the moment of truth in your lies when everything seems like the movies, yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive and I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think they would understand. When everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am." Midge couldn't help but smile at George as he continued. It was the sweetest and loveliest surprise he could have ever given her. "And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand, and when everything's made to be broken I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am. I just want you to know who I am."

Everyone clapped as George finished, he thanked the DJ and handed back the microphone and walked off stage towards Midge. He was smiling at her when he reached her and asked, "So, you want to be my girlfriend? Or do I need to find other romantic ways to embarrass myself?"

Midge laughed, "I think if you do, Snape will give you detention and that wouldn't be good." George shook his head and smiled brightly at her. "Well in that case...yes!" George grabbed her and kissed her and everyone at the table broke out into laughter and applause.

"This is perfect." Midge thought as she and George pulled away from the kiss and stared at each other.


End file.
